Okay.. 2001 f150 xlt 4x4 4.6 v8... 6.5 style side... Rear left shakle broke.. Leaf spring shot up through tailbed.. Replaced shakle.. Got a new tailgate and hinges since they were all rusted... Replaced.. There is like... A half inch of space so the tailgate won't stay on hinges.. If I explained it poorly maybe my pictures will help... Any suggestions !!? Thanks

 

Anyone ?

 

Tailgate is to short or the box is stretched out.

Make sure you got the right tailgate.

 

Having a hard time seeing what you're describing.

Are the replacement parts exact matches?

 

Definitely something wrong with the bed or you got the wrong tailgate. Also do you have the the plastic cups installed in the tailgate?

 

Looking at your two pic's, you can see that the tailgate is pushed more to the left (drivers side) The tailgate is almost touching the sheet metal of the box. When the tailgate is properly aligned, the margins are a heavy 1/8 th of an inch both sides. Like mentioned above, looks like you're missing the bushing on the left. I've just seen this the other day on a friends truck, he cracked the tail light lense when he closed the gate! And the tail gate was sliding left to right. Should be no movement. Hope this helps.

 

I came up with a lock on my 2003 F150. It does not have a tailgate lock so, here's what I came up with.

This cost less than $20.

 

My bed starts at 65 inches wide near the cab of the truck.. As I move towards the tailgate the gap becomes 65.5 inches wide.. Something seems out of wack here

 

What does old tailgate come out to?

 

Yeah.. I feel like my tailbed is some how been messed up from when the leaf spring shot up through the bottom